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Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.
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She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:
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"How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.
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Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
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Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
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Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,
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I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,
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When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.
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"Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
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Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
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They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke.
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Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
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For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
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But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil."